Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office to four new ministers at Lok Bhavan to strengthen the Omar Abdullah-led administration. However, the induction triggered sudden protests at the party headquarters over the exclusion of veteran legislator Mubarak Ahmad Gul.
By Ajaz Rashid
In a major administrative and political restructuring of the Jammu and Kashmir government, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday expanded his Council of Ministers, inducting four senior legislators in a formal swearing-in ceremony held at Lok Bhavan in Srinagar.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office and secrecy to veteran lawmaker Ali Mohammad Sagar, Altaf Ahmad Wani, Shamim Firdous, and Saifullah Mir. The induction significantly bolsters the executive wing of the National Conference (NC)-led administration, balancing seasoned party stalwarts, gender representation, and regional aspirations. However, the high-profile ceremony was quickly shadowed by visible fissures within party ranks, as the exclusion of veteran legislator Mubarak Ahmad Gul ignited demonstrations at the party headquarters, forcing NC patriarch Dr. Farooq Abdullah to execute swift damage control.
The proceedings at Lok Bhavan, conducted by Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor Govind Jaiswal, drew the upper echelon of Jammu and Kashmir’s political and legislative architecture. Flanking the newly sworn-in ministers were Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, party president Dr. Farooq Abdullah, and Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather.
The front rows reflected the broader administrative coalition, with Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary in attendance alongside sitting cabinet colleagues Sakeena Masood Itoo, Javed Ahmed Rana, and Javid Ahmad Dar. Member of Parliament Gurvinder Singh Oberoi, accompanied by senior civil administrators, elected representatives, and security officials, also witnessed the oath-taking.
The induction of the four legislators brings extensive legislative and field experience to the Omar Abdullah administration. Ali Mohammad Sagar, an institutional pillar of the National Conference and a longstanding assembly veteran, returns to the ministerial fold to lend administrative weight to governance in the valley. Alongside him, Altaf Ahmad Wani (Kaloo) brings seasoned constituency leadership from South Kashmir, while Shamim Firdous, a fierce party voice from the old city of Srinagar, gives the treasury benches vital gender representation. From North Kashmir’s border belt, Kupwara stalwart Saifullah Mir rounds out the quartet, securing a strategic administrative voice for frontier communities.
The expansion comes amid intense deliberation over the pace and focus of the Omar Abdullah-led dispensation, which took office tasked with navigating the unique complexities of governing Jammu and Kashmir following the restoration of an elected assembly. Decisions regarding the formal distribution and reallocation of executive portfolios among both the newly appointed ministers and sitting council members are expected to follow within days.
Yet, even as congratulatory exchanges filled the manicured lawns of Lok Bhavan, the political fallout was instantaneous across Srinagar’s historic political corridors.
At Nawa-i-Subh Complex, the fortress-like headquarters of the National Conference, festive discipline broke down into public dissent. Barely hours after the oath-taking concluded, scores of impassioned supporters of senior leader and Eidgah legislator Mubarak Ahmad Gul converged on the party compound. Chanting slogans and expressing sharp resentment over his omission from the cabinet list, the demonstrators disrupted an ongoing internal meeting presided over by Dr. Farooq Abdullah.
According to insiders and protesting cadre, Gul, a six-time Member of the Legislative Assembly who has represented downtown Srinagar’s Eidgah constituency across multiple decades (1983, 1996, 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2024) had seen his name firmly penciled into the ministerial roster until late Monday night. Its sudden omission triggered outrage among his core urban base.
The exclusion reopened a long-festering grievance for the veteran politician. In private and public remarks leading up to the expansion, Gul had openly voiced despair over being repeatedly bypassed for executive power, lamenting that despite having attended nearly 30 swearing-in ceremonies throughout his decades-long career, an official ministerial induction had continued to elude him. Alongside Gul, reports surfaced indicating that Anantnag West MLA Abdul Majeed Larmi had similarly communicated deep reservations to the party high command regarding the regional and individual balancing of the ministerial berths.
Confronted with the prospect of an escalating rebellion in the party’s traditional urban bastion, Dr. Farooq Abdullah moved aggressively to defuse the brewing crisis. In an immediate outreach effort, the NC president held emergency discussions with Gul, subsequently appointing the veteran six-time lawmaker as the General Secretary of the National Conference party organisation. The elevation to the powerful organizational post was widely interpreted as an urgent bid to placate downtown Srinagar’s influential cadre and anchor Gul to party machinery ahead of forthcoming legislative debates.
Within the cabinet itself, colleagues rallied around the leadership’s prerogative, attempting to downplay the undercurrents of friction and project internal unity. Minister Sakina Masood Itoo addressed reporters directly, dismissing suggestions of acrimony and insisting that organizational loyalty transcends the allocation of executive offices.
“Whatever decision the leadership has taken, whoever the leadership has brought in, I congratulate them and in this party all people are equal,” Itoo said, seeking to calm anxieties across regional party offices.
Underlining the collective discipline expected of party veterans, Itoo stressed that ministerial status does not alter an individual’s fundamental duty to the cadre. “All people work in the party and will continue to work in the party, whether one is a minister or not a minister,” she stated, adding that every dedicated party worker remains on equal footing in service to Jammu and Kashmir.
While Srinagar contended with internal politicking and protests, a starkly different scene played out across the orchards and mountain towns of North Kashmir.
In Kupwara district, the induction of Trehgam MLA Mir Saifullah sparked spontaneous jubilation. Supporters filled town squares, bursting firecrackers and beating traditional drums (dhol) to celebrate the four-time legislator’s return to the Council of Ministers. The border constituency saw the elevation as a fulfillment of an explicit electoral commitment made by the Chief Minister during the intense 2024 assembly campaign to ensure robust executive authority for peripheral frontier regions.
“We are thankful to Omar Abdullah for fulfilling his promise. We are proud of our leader and minister, Mir Saifullah,” local residents of Trehgam said, celebrating in the streets following the live broadcast of the oath ceremony.
Local constituents lauded their representative’s sustained standing and perceived resilience on behalf of regional youth. “NC is the only party whose MLA has not compromised on the interests of the people. When it comes to Jammu and Kashmir and its youth, others compromise,” the residents added, citing the complex social, economic, and security anxieties faced by border youth.
Mir, who reclaimed Trehgam in the historic 2024 elections with 18,002 votes, acknowledged the weight of his mandate immediately following the Lok Bhavan ceremony, pledging to transcend regional divides and work aggressively for the welfare and development of communities across all districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The day’s contrasting scenes celebratory drums in Trehgam, solemn state protocol at Lok Bhavan, and angry sloganeering in the courtyards of Nawa-i-Subh capture the delicate tightrope Chief Minister Omar Abdullah must navigate. With four additional ministers in place, the administration has visibly fortified its core bench, integrating seasoned political figures capable of shouldering critical government departments.
Yet, as the administration turns its immediate focus to the logistical challenge of portfolio allocation and administrative coordination, the lingering unease among neglected veterans signals that holding together the political architecture of Jammu and Kashmir will require constant vigilance, balancing executive delivery with internal consensus.
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